What to do in LA?

Flying UCS to LAX in December .. have option to stay in LA for 3 nights ( with baby in tow ) - shes too young for Disney... so what is there to do in LA and where is good to stay ..

any advice would be great... ( destination guide on Flying Club didn't help much )







Topic moved to Travel - General by mod ...... Nick

Originally posted by coolea96
Flying UCS to LAX in December .. have option to stay in LA for 3 nights ( with baby in tow ) - shes too young for Disney... so what is there to do in LA and where is good to stay ..

any advice would be great... ( destination guide on Flying Club didn't help much )

I'd be tempted to stay out at Santa Monica rather than head for the hills. Big beach, the pier, the city, lots of people out walking (unlike large parts of LA where walking is seen as a symptom of a disorder). Easy access to / from LAX and other parts of LA. Lots of great places to eat.

The Getty museum is large and, as I recall, pretty child friendly.

There are a whole host of things to do in and around LA. It depends how portable / mobile the young 'un is. I have friends in Santa Monica who have brought two up from being babes in arms. I could ask their advice about where to go and what to do with a little 'un in that area if you like. Which of the hand luggage / mobile luggage / evolved mobile luggage that needs entertaining phases is she at ?

Paul

I would second that. Santa Monica has pretty much everything you would want but is still within easy distance of the sights in the LA area. It is very family friendly and a lot more pleasant to walk around than most of the other areas. Sorry, I don't know about accomodation. I stayed at the Westin Bonaventure in the Downtown area, which I loved, but there isn't much going on at night as it is in a business district.

TTFN

Paul

Originally posted by karnsculpture
Sorry, I don't know about accomodation. I stayed at the Westin Bonaventure in the Downtown area, which I loved, but there isn't much going on at night as it is in a business district.

All but one of the times we've been to Santa Monica we've been lucky enought to use our friends' house near the beach so don't know much about hotel accommodation. The time we did stay we used Loews At The Beach.

Paul

Things to do in LA:

Sightseeing down Hollywood Boulevard will take you about an hour, tops. Frankly, it looks nice around the Chinese Theatre but walk any further and it smells of urine (well, it did on the two days I was there).

Los Angeles Zoo is OK, as far as zoos go, but it is a little out of the way and we had trouble getting back to Downtown from there.

Warner Bros Studio Tour - book in advance - a real behind the scenes experience in a small group and you might spot the odd actor. The tour guide who showed us round was an extra on ER and shared a lot of gossip.
http://www2.warnerbros.com/vipstudiotour/

For shopping, Santa Monica is pretty good, but not high end.

Paul

Best place to stay really depends on what (and how much) you want to see and do. Getting around on public transport is not at all easy so you will need a car to visit most places, unless you plan to take taxis everywhere.

The west side of LA has plenty of nice options for accommodation and it has the advantage of being closer to LAX. Santa Monica has the most in terms of shops, restaurants and hotels but you could try Marina Del Rey or Manhattan Beach if you really wanted to be by the ocean.

If being in a car/bus for a few hours is possible, LA tours/tours of the stars homes/studio tours are not a bad option. Gawping at the mansions of the stars is a guilty pleasure. Gawping is also available in Beverly Hills of course, as are classic views of palm-tree lined streets. Recommend the Grove at the Farmer's Market on W 3rd Street for shopping and dining. Hippest (open air) mall in LA.

For very good views of LA you take a walk in Runyon Canyon Park. It is not far from the Hollywood Walk of Fame/Mann's Theatre etc which, as a previous poster noted, is quite a let down.

If you are feeling energetic you can hire bikes/tandems/trikes and cycle up and/or down the beach cycle path. Plenty of places in SM and Venice hire bikes (with little baby buggies in tow) and the path is pretty flat.

There are plenty of other options but, again, they'll depend on whether you have transport and what would interest the ankle biter.

Thanks for all of the advice... my sister leaves in san Jose and she reckons we should stay out in anaheim and avail of the stuff out there.. our little un is only 12 months so I think Disney wont mean alot to her... but I am sure the adults will have fun !!

I'd stay in Santa Monica too. You could try taking a drive down to San Diego, although if you're only there for a short time, maybe it's better to do more LA things, such as LA Dodgers (:D) game, Long Beach aquarium etc.

VS.

You could go to Long Beach and see the Queen Mary and the Aquarium..... nice park to play in, too!